Oklahoma has long been home to some of the best quail hunting and quail habitat in the nation. But the species is currently in a state of long-term decline across its range. While Oklahoma remains one of the strongest holdouts of bobwhite quail populations and habitat, wildlife professionals are proactively launching an extensive effort to understand and address what could be a number of contributors to the downward trend in quail populations.

Quail decline has been attributed to a number of causes. There is no shortage of theories blaming everything from disease and food contamination to habitat loss, fragmentation and predation, but Wildlife Department officials say the issue needs to be studied from all angles.

The Wildlife Department has begun an intensive, long-term research project on two northwest Oklahoma wildlife management areas to study quail reproductive success and mortality. The Department is also teaming up with a group of partners to conduct an extensive research project that covers the western portion of the northern bobwhite quail’s North American range.

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